President Obama announced tonight that al Qaeda's former leader was killed after a firefight with Navy Seals. He confirmed Internet rumors that Osama bin Laden's body was in U.S. possession. Many Americans are rejoicing, especially at Ground Zero.

The president said killing bin Laden was among his first directives:

" ... Shortly after taking office, I directed Leon Panetta, the director of the CIA, to make the killing or capture of bin Laden the top priority of our war against al Qaeda, even as we continued our broader efforts to disrupt, dismantle and defeat his network."

And he reminded viewers that the United States is not at war with Islam:

"I've made clear, just as President Bush did shortly after 9/11, that our war is not against Islam. Bin Laden was not a Muslim leader; he was a mass murderer of Muslims. Indeed, al Qaeda has slaughtered scores of Muslims in many countries, including our own."

Albuquerque’s Answer Coalition traveled to Downtown El Paso to demonstrate this morning. Andy Beale, a member of the antiwar activist group, says turnout was great with around 40 or 50 people. They were successful in conveying their message, he adds: “Luis Posada is a terrorist, and he needs to be prosecuted for that.”

Posada, 82, is a former CIA agent who, for some, is a champion who stood against Fidel Castro. But Venezuelan Foreign Minister Nicolás Maduro calls him the bin Laden of the Americas. Noam Chomsky calls him a “world champion in international terrorism.” He’s said to have been involved in several bombings in Cuba in the late ’90s and a 1976 airplane bombing in which 73 passengers died, among other things.

His trial in El Paso today is about immigration fraud relating to his entrance into the United States via Mexico. He lives in Miami.

Despite the heated communism/terrorism debate, Answer Coalition’s Beale says today’s protest was entirely peaceful. A right-wing group of about 30 that supports Posada also demonstrated, he says, but there was no confrontation.